#13 Pittsburgh Stays Unbeaten, #12 Washington Splits

  0 Jil Price Igara | September 08th, 2018 | ACC, College - Women's Indoor, Division I Mid-Major, News, Pac 12

Panther Invitational

  • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • Sept. 7-8, 2018

13th-ranked Pittsburgh swept past 12th-ranked Washington to close Panther Invitational action Saturday and remain undefeated, 9-0, on the season. The Huskies recovered from the loss with a 4-set victory over Kennesaw State in the evening.

Match Stats

13th-ranked Pittsburgh used a .425 attack percentage and 7 to 3 blocking edge to silence 12th-ranked Washington and remain undefeated on the season, 9-0, with a Saturday sweep. The Panthers finish their invitational with a 3-0 mark to claim the championship and are off to their best start to a season since 2006.

Five ties occurred early in the first set before the Panthers used a 7-1 stretch to establish a 6-point advantage at 19-13. Pittsburgh held on from there, registering a 25-18 win.

In the second set, Pittsburgh used several scoring drives to secure a dominant 25-13 victory. The teams fought through five early ties in the third set until the Panthers went on a 10-3 run to gain control. Pittsburgh did not let up from there, notching the sweep with a 25-17 win.

Sophomore Kayla Lund and redshirt junior Stephanie Williams led the Panthers to victory with 16 and 15 kills, respectively. Senior Kamalani Akeao distributed 19 assists, redshirt senior Angela Seman logged 13 digs and junior Layne Van Buskirk posted 5 blocks.

Sophomore Samantha Dreschel paced Washington with 8 kills. Freshman Ella May Powell posted 27 assists, junior Shayne McPherson tallied 8 digs and sophomore Lauren Sanders recorded 2 blocks.

Match Stats

After dropping the first match of the day to 13th-ranked Pittsburgh, 12th-ranked Washington rebounded with a 3-1 victory over Kennesaw State to cap Panther Invitational play. The Huskies finish the weekend with a 2-1 record.

Kennesaw State came out of the gate strong, establishing a 5-1 lead early in the first set. Washington fought back through 3 ties, however, the Owls used a 9-1 run to key their 25-19 win.

The teams battled back and forth through 8 ties in the second set before the Huskies secured the 27-25 win with an Owl error and kill by freshman Shannon Crenshaw.

Washington came out firing in the third set, jumping ahead 5-1. After Kennesaw State registered 5-straight scores to tie it up, 9-9, the Huskies responded with an 8-2 stretch to regain control. They held on to the momentum from there and secured a 25-19 win.

The Huskies came out on top, 25-20, in another hotly contested set to register the 3-1 result.

Sophomore Samantha Dreschel (13), Crenshaw (12)  junior Kara Bajema (12) led the Huskies offensively with double-figure kill totals. Freshman Ella Mae Powell notched 38 assists, junior Shayne McPherson posted 17 digs and sophomore Lauren Sanders tallied 6 blocks.

Sophomore Lauren Chastang posted a double-double (11 kills, 11 digs) for Kennesaw State, while senior Sydni Shelton contributed 13 kills. Junior Lexi Broadwater registered 45 assists, while sophomore Karlee Groover notched 13 digs.

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